


When We Were Fourteen

by InterNutter



Series: When We Were Us [5]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, baby twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-02-05 13:32:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12795624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InterNutter/pseuds/InterNutter
Summary: The twins are always exiles, but never alone.





	When We Were Fourteen

When they weren’t street kids, they were caravan kids. Stowing away in someone’s wagon and making themselves useful by the cook-fires. Hardly anyone spoke with them, so they spoke with each other in their personal language. They called it  _ Us _ . Because that was part and parcel of who they were.

And it helped to be a bit Foreign. If people assumed that they were Foreign, then the twins got underestimated. And, frankly, it was amusing to watch people yell and pantomime at them as one or the other feigned incomprehension whilst the other picked their pocket.

They ran scams. Hustled anyone who looked rich enough. Traded every spare copper for gemstones.

Koko re-invented the bag of holding. Kept what looked like a nosegay pouch around his neck. In actuality, it was a dimensionally transcendent poke that held the gemstones that Lulu would need. Knowing that nobody would steal a nosegay.

Lulu was the one most likely to destroy things. She had a singular love of fire and pyrotechnics. Which was great for distractions when they had to run. Koko was the smooth talker, the one with the most flexible mind. The wheedler and the cajoler and the master of Charm Person when all else failed.

They were a team.

Where one might fail, the other would rise up and take the advantage. Where one would falter, the other would support them.

They picked up all sorts of languages, though they were rarely used. Dwarven. Common. Several layers of Elvish from High to Gutter. They even managed a smattering of Traveller and Polari.

But, by and large, they kept to  _ Us _ . Being noticeably Foreign allowed them to run all kinds of scams. And got them into all kinds of scraps.

Being Foreign was a default state, when they ran with other refugees from yet another battle or yet another horde of raiders. And people didn’t always like Foreigners. It was difficult to gauge when people would hate them for talking in a language that they didn’t understand.

They learned to code-switch on a gnat’s whisker. Kept to formal speech and politeness when the eyes of hatred turned their way. A dazzling smile could do wonders, sometimes.

And when that failed… well… Lulu was always ready with a little bit of fire.


End file.
